The Crimson Wings
by Heartless-Nobody-24
Summary: The Flock was made at the School. But Itex had other facilities. What if there are more hybrids? And as new secrets are revealed disaster strikes as friends are lost and enemies return. Will the Flock be able to hold it together and defeat these enemies?
1. A Desert Fly

I do not own Maximum Ride, or any other references made or thought to have been made.

* * *

MAX POV

My life has been pretty hectic lately. We just stopped Mr. Chu, but he got away. I am finally dating Fang, but now someone else is here (we'll get to that later). And Dr. Wonderful is out of the picture, but she is secretly meeting with the bad guys. Those are my current pros and cons. Not to mention all the problems that go with being a 2% avion hybrid. So let's get started.

After dealing with Mr. Chu, my family and the Flock. Both are the same thing really. My Flock is my family. But anyway. We decided it was time for a change of scenery. My mother had this crazy idea that if the responsibility of choosing our new home was placed on Gazzy's shoulders, that he might mature a little. NOPE! He just decided to have fun with it. And after getting my mother to promise that we would go there, under the impression that he was being serious, he decided to choose Las Vegas, Nevada. Why? Only God knows the answer to that and for now the Voice is the only one telling me anything. The Voice has been quiet lately.

So we all went to Vegas. And that is where the trouble, in our life of many MANY troubles, began.

CURRENT DAY:

"Max!" Nudge had to yell up to me. "Why did you want us to go flying? Is something up? The Voice?"

I looked back at her. "No, I just thought that we had been doing so much that we never got time to just mess around." And with that I bolted straight up while the others all scattered around playing their games. One of them, however, stayed right on my tail feather (See I can make the whole bird-joke thing). As I came to a stop and just floated there, Fang came right up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulled me closer.

"I could take you down easily if I wanted to." He whispered quietly into my ear, brushing his lips against it. Though we're already "together", that kinda stuff from Fang still makes me shiver.

"But could you really?" I whispered back.

"No. But I will do this." He suddenly folded his wings around me. I had to fold mine the same way. And then we fell, wrapped in Fang's black wings.

"How far from the ground do you think we are?" I asked him.

He unfolded his wings, we were going about 100 mph at a falling speed and the desert's sand was within a hundred feet. We broke out of our position and arched back up, Fang still above me.

"Too close." I said to myself.

"Max it's time." Iggy yelled to me. "Dr. Martinez wanted us back by three." He said while pointing to a watch on his wrist. How he knew the time from a watch while he was blind I will never know.

"You're right. Mom wanted us back so we could go look at the Vegas strip."

"Can we go see Sigfried and Roy?" Angel asked coming up behind me. OH MY GOD! My little Angel is so cute.

"Can go gamble at the Rio or the Palms?" Gazzy asked. Not so cute, but still a little cute.

"Maybe to the first, no to the second." I told the two.

"Didn't the Rio close?" Nudge asked.

"Heck if I know. Let's go."

"No, the Rio didn't close." Angel told Nudge.

"And how would you know?"

"Cause I can hear people thinking that they are going there." Angel said matter-of-factly. There's a mind reader for you.

"Can we go the Eiffel Tower or the Arch?" asked Iggy, who flew up to my left.

"Why would you want to go to either?" I asked.

"Well," he began sadly, like he just remembered that he was blind, "I want to see how much I can hear from the Tower. And the Arch is white, so I could see it."

"Well we'll see if we have time." I replied, only to ge my wing get hit by his. I guess he thought I was making fun of him.


	2. Vegas Strip

I don't own Maximum Ride, or other preferences made or thought to have been made.

* * *

Max's POV

Walking down the Vegas Strip, it was just starting to get dark. We'd seen everything. That giant blimp that's lit up; had lunch at Hard Rock Café; seen the pirate fight at Treasure Island (Angel almost jumped out to help until I told her it was fake); and played golf at the Desert Inn. Gazzy and Iggy continuously asked to go gambling, and I told them they were too young and that it's an addictive habit. But that seemed to make them want to do it even more.

Mom said that we could see the Arch better at night, and it would still be white for Iggy to see. Mom promised that we could see The Mirage and Siegfried and Roy later, but it was too late.

After seeing the Arch, which Iggy was ecstatic about because he was able to see it, we all walked towards the Bellagio to see the beautiful water show in front of it. We stood there for about half an hour. Just as we began walking away, some teenager ran right into me. After trying to walk around him did I notice that he was gripping both my arms and I noticed that he was looking me dead in the eyes with fear and terror on his face.

"You need to run!" he told me in a yelled whisper. "They're back and they are coming for you all. I can hold them off but you have to run." He said fast enough for only someone with extremely powerful hearing could interpret, which I could. And leaning right next to my ear he whispered so quietly that even I could barely hear him. "Beware of the flight, within moon light." And he ran off past me, towards the Bellagio. There was something about the way that his eyes looked that I couldn't get out of my head. Then Fang walked up to me.

"Who was that? A beggar? Or drunk kid?" He asked while wrapping his arms around me. I was still getting used to this open relationship that we had now.

"I don't think so. He said, 'They're back' and that they're coming." Fang looked at me skeptically.

"You're taking him seriously?"

"I don't know. Something he said, about being afraid of something in the moon light."

Then I had an idea. I ran over to Angel, "Hey Angel, can you pick out something for me?"

But she looked like something was already wrong. Her head was all wrinkled, and she was pressing her fingers to her temples.

"Angel what's wrong?" Fang asked her.

"There's something here." She said. "It's messing with my telepathy."

By now, the other three had walked over to us. My mom had to go and find a bathroom.

"What's going on?" Nudge asked.

Just then, all of us froze. They all heard it. The sound of flapping wings above them, to large for any type of bird. They began looking around for the source and they saw something that was even more surprising.

Weaving in between the people in the crowd were Erasers in full wolf form. But they looked even less human than they used to. But there were about twenty of them, and they all ran past us. But not a single person noticed giant werewolves running past them.

All the Erasers, and whatever it was above us in the sky that we couldn't see, were heading towards the Bellagio. Wait…

"We gotta go after them!" I ordered to my Flock. And usually they did what I asked, but…

"What are you talking about? They're running past us. Let's leave them." Gazzy protested.

"We ARE going because of two reasons. One, we can't let anyone get hurt by them if are able to do something. And two," now turning to Fang, "that kid was heading towards the Bellagio and he said he was going to lead them away."

"Fine," Fang agreed. And turning to the Flock, "Let's go." And flung out his 15 ft. wide wings straight up not to hit anyone. But people did notice the bird kids, but not the wolves. And eventually, everyone had their wings out and fly close to the ground to watch the Erasers.

Just outside the Bellagio, we landed and looked around. The Erasers were going in, but still, no one noticed. Nudge finally broke the silence.

"Max. Is that him on the roof?"

We all backed up, and looked up at the roof. Our hawk-eye vision let us see him like he was right in front of us. But the worse things were that he was right on the ledge. AND there were wolves on both sides of him, probably one in front to prevent his escape.

"JESUS CHRIST!!! DON'T JUMP!!!!!" A woman on the ground screamed. A giant crowd gathered at the bottom of the Bellagio staring at him. They may not be able to see the wolves but they could see him.

Looking at him again, Max saw that he was talking to something in the sky. The thing that was flying earlier. And he turned back towards the wolves and the roof top, his back to the open space of a couple hundred stories drop.

Then, in the back of my head I heard something.

_BUMP! BUMP! BUMP-BUMP-BUMP!!_

_BUMP! BUMP! BUMP-BUMP-BUMP!!_

_BUMP! BUMP! BUMP-BUMP-BUMP!!_

_BUMP! BUMP! BUMP-BUMP-BUMP!!_

_BUMP! BUMP! BUMP-BUMP-BUMP!!_

"What is that?" I asked.

"It's the drum beat they used to play at an execution." Iggy piped up, he wasn't even looking up. Why would he? But how did he know that? Oh well.

"Yeah it is." Nudge said agreeing.

"Aaaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhhh!!!!!" Angel cried grabbing her head.

"ANGEL!! What's wrong?" I yelled, running to grab her.

"I don't know. But that drum beat is being sent to your minds telepathically. And it's messing with mine, and it hurts really badly."

"Fang! Watch her!" I yelled to him. Preparing to fly up and save the poor guy. How was he involved in this?

Suddenly the beat in our head quicken to a constant beat.

_BUMP-BUMP-BUMP- BUMP-BUMP-BUMP- BUMP-BUMP-BUMP- BUMP-BUMP-BUMP- BUMP-BUMP-BUMP-BUMP!!!!_

"This is when the prisoner was executed." Iggy said. And the boy on the roof stood with his back still to the drop, but his arms were spread straight out. Just like a person does when they are about to jump.

"I'm going to get him." I said. But I was too late. The beat in our head stopped. And he fell straight back off of the roof. Turning to face the ground, he was falling fast. It happened so suddenly that I couldn't think of what to do. The wolves stared down at him, surprised that he jumped. A piercing shriek came from the sky.

But when he was ten stories from the ground, something happened. He was suddenly lifted up on a blur of red. The crowd couldn't see it, but we could.

He had been lifted on a pair of giant red _wings._


	3. Catching Up

I do not own Maximum Ride or any other reference made or thought made.

* * *

"HE HAS WINGS!" Gazzy screamed behind me.

"He does?" Iggy asked confused.

"He does." Fang replied back.

This guy just flew off on _red wings_. How does he have wings?

"Uhhh…Max?" Nudge had been tugging on my sleeve for a while now, snapping me back into reality.

_Assess the situation Max._ Thank you Voice, your sudden appearance has just made my life so much easier, so SHUT UP!

I looked around, deciding to take the advice. Angel was no longer screaming in pain but standing up straight, though still a little pained. Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, and Nudge were staring at each other about the new avion-hybrid in the world. The wolfish Erasers were running out of the Bellagio and heading in the direction of the red-winged-wonder, and nobody even noticed them. And the flying boy was nowhere to be seen.

"Alright listen up!" I screamed at the flock, immediately getting their attention. "We're going after the flying kid."

"The red one or that weird thing we heard flying around in the clouds but didn't see?" Gazzy asked.

"The red one," I replied, "He was talking to the other it and so probably knows what _it_ is. So, let's go!" And on cue, my flock and I threw out our wings and launched ourselves into the sky.

"Where did he go?" Iggy yelled up from the back.

"Northwest," Fang cried out, "Towards the desert."

With our enhanced raptor-vision, we were able to find him in about ten minutes, but still, we just barely saw him.

"Max!" Nudge yelled up to me, "Use your speed and catch up to him."

"Alright, but don't take too long." I replied. I looked over to Fang, and I saw concern in his dark eyes, fear that I might get hurt. God I love that man. He then nodded, and I was off. I widened my wings to their greatest extent and did whatever it is that I do to activate it. Suddenly my hair is flying straight back and the wind actually hurts as it hits my face, but I stay focused on the boy that is flying in front of me.

As I got closer to him, I think he turned his head to see me. As I was getting closer to him, coming at 250 mph, he suddenly stopped so that I zipped past him by about 30 yards. I quickly turned around and saw him flying West. I shot at him again, and he swerved out of my way again just before I reached him, but he screamed something to me.

"You'll never catch me if you keep trying to do the same thing over and over again Maximum."

_How does he know my name?_ This guy was getting weirder by the minute. I pointed myself in his direction once more and launched myself at him with as much speed as I could. I was a rocket headed right for him, and I was getting close quick. He was still going straight forward as if he could outrun me. But just as I came up behind him, and about to grab him, he began to speed up. He was moving at the same speed I was, and then he began to move faster and move farther ahead of me.

"You'll have to be better Max." As he sped away from me, his red wings began to actually glow.

Just as I thought I'd lose him, he did a sudden mid-air back flip.

"GRAB HIM!"I heard Fang cry as he suddenly became visible right where the guy had done the flip. Fang's arm was stretched out so that the guy would run into it and crash.

I understand how the red dude didn't see Fang, but how did Fang notget knocked over by getting hit by a guy flying directly at him going over 300 mph.

_Do not forget, your DNA is still mutating, and you can still be gaining new abilities._ Well thank you Voice for giving an answer, but not a direct one. So Fang had a new power? I didn't have time to think about it, the rest of the flock were still trying to grab this new guy. And, somehow, even with the odds 5 to 1, he was still beating them. This guy suddenly grabbed Fang by the throat and twisted his arm behind him.

"PLEASE STOP!" I screamed, "Please don't hurt Fang!"

Slowly, he let Fang go. The red-winged guy slowly let himself fall to the ground, and so did we until all of us were standing in the middle of the freezing desert in the middle of the night.

"All you had to do was ask." This guy asked.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Crimson." He calmly replied.

"Cool name."Gazzy piped up, and he received a death stare from me.

"Alright, start talking." I demanded, "Who are you really, where did you come from, why were there Erasers here, what was the other thing in the sky, where did it come from, and why did you come to talk to me?" I went over that in my head and I think I covered everything.

"Alright, I'll talk. I am a human-avian hybrid escapee, I was created at the secret Itex laboratory known as the Facility in South America, the Erasers are from the same place, the thing in the sky was another escapee from the Facility, and I came to find you because you are the only one who can stop the Facility from killing every single person on the planet. And they aren't going to do it intentionally."

The flock and I just stared at him with our jaws open wide. Another Itex company was making hybrids? For how long?

"And to answer other questions that all of you are thinking. Fang, I and the other in the sky are the only avian hybrids that were made. Nudge, my wings are red because they are a combination of cardinal and hawk wing DNA. Gasman, the Erasers were trying to capture me, not you but they would have if they saw you. Angel, yes, I am telepathic and am extremely more powerful at it than you, so stop trying to read my mind before I turn you into a paranoid schizophrenic. And Max, yes I know all of your names, I can copy all of your abilities, and I know everything that you need to know how saving the world."

Okay, this guy was just trying to show off now.

"How did you…" Fang began to ask before I stopped him.

"Crimson," I began by using his _name_, "Will you come with us please to our house." Everyone gave me a look of pure disbelief. Fang had something else in his eyes, jealousy? So I clarified. "…So that we can hear everything you have to say and figure everything out?"

"Of course. Thanks for inviting me," he nodded to me as if he were bowing.


End file.
